Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/183

148 if any enthusiast were to try, the result would be failure and abandonment.

One reason why a moderate and more than fair skill is possible to the golfer who begins late is that quickness and agility of eye are not indispensable qualities for the game any more than are rapidity and suppleness of limb. The golfer is never obliged to run or jump, and he has not to stoop to an inordinate extent. In one sense it is a game of repose: to hit a ball ninety or a hundred times in two hours may be said to be a somewhat leisurely performance. Some of the strokes are given with scarcely an effort, such as all putts and little quarter shots. An analysis of the game will prove that a fair player will only have to put forth his full strength on an average about thirty-six times during a round, or twice per hole, a first-rate player less. Vardon and Mr. Tait, I suppose, only find a minority of holes where it is necessary to do more than a full shot, and then a three-quarter or half shot, and some holes they can drive off the tee with a half-swing. An inferior player wastes a